Country Thunder For Sure!!

Country Thunder again earned it's name this year. We arrived on Tues afternoon and set up camp in the "preferred" campground. It is actually a hay field that by Tues evening had dust blowing everywhere because of the traffic. Well that didn't last long! Stacey and Brian arrived shortly after we did and we arranged our site...after a couple of cold ones, of course! Tom and Sandy arrived later after I sent them on a wild goose chase to meet Jami and pick up his 10x20 shelter thingy. We then sat around and had a few more beverages and cooked some Brats for dinner. The dust keeps getting worse as more and more campers arrive.

Wed arrives and it's hotter than h3$4. About noon we all (6) pile in the Jeep and go to a local watering hole for a burger. Back to Country Thunder where the entertainment starts @ 4 and the VIP buffet opens at 5. After eating ...again.....we are entertained by Joe Nichols, Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood.

Thursday again brings hot (90+) and humid weather with a chance of thunderstorms. The lunch buffet opens at 11 and entertainment begins at noon. Today's headliners are Emerson Drive, Miranda Lambert and Dierks Bentley......awesome shows.

Friday comes and it seems Pat has contracted the Avian Flu. The same weather forecast for today...only this time the thunderstorm part comes true. At least it waits until we have seen Randy Owen, Clay Walker and Sugarland. But then it dumps on us.

Saturday and finally there is no dust today....just a light drizzle.....and mud.....lot's of it. Actually the campground is closed to all traffic because of the muddy conditions. But that doesn't stop some of the "red necks" in their jacked up pickups from slinging mud everywhere. Nor does it deter the mud slide activities! Oh to be young again!

Entertainment today is, amongst others, Kellie Pickler, Jessica Simpson and Sara Evans.

Saturday night brings another thunderstorm giving us about 2" of rain over the last couple of days. Only Brian and Stacey would sit by the campfire, under an umbrella, in the pouring rain, drinking beer! Gotta lov em!

The hayfield has now turned into a swamp!

Sunday morning ( go home day) comes with overcast sky's that quickly clear. The entertainment today is provided by everyone attempting to pack up and leave. 2 big farm tractors are making the rounds pulling pickups, trailers and motor homes thru the mud to the road. We wait until about noon, for things to dry up, to give it a try and move about 3 feet before calling in the tractor! Once safely on the hard road the rest of the trip home is uneventful!

WOW.....what a weekend!

Off to Country Thunder!

Well, NASCAR weekend was a success, with the weather co-operating....... for the most part. A strong thunderstorm blew thru Thursday night right before Gretchen Wilson was scheduled to perform a free concert. Eventually the show was cancelled and moved to Fri afternoon. Good thing we were hunkered down in the "safety" of the Miller Lite Tent!

The night races were a different atmosphere this year and seemed to draw larger crowds than usual. We had a nice visits with old friends and met some new ones. Friday night I visited Speedway Ridge for the Nationwide race, compliments of Tommy D.

Sunday the weather was beautiful as we packed up and headed for home, only to get ready for Country Thunder!

Nascar Weekend

Well it's just about time for the BLue Bus to roll again. It is NASCAR weekend in Chicago and we're off to the races, so to speak. We dry camp in a farmers field named Prairie View Campground, which is about a mile walk from the actual track. Again this year we will be joined by "The Brews", Judy and Bart Pfanenstiel and Doug. Wes, the owner, has done a nice job of accommodating us and put us along the fence row with 3 spots all together. The festivities start tonight with a free concert followed by the Nationwide race tomorrow and finally the Cup race on Sat night. This is the first year of the Saturday night format and there seems to be a lot of excitement. Nothing to do all weekend but eat, drink and of course watch some rubbin and racin! Ohhhh..........Doug just called, he has scored tickets for us to the Miller Beer corporate tent and the Miller Party deck on turn four......awesome!
BUT FIRST..............the chassis batteries are dead...again. Guess it's time to replace them with four fresh Interstate 31-MHD's. Lot's of lead in these babys and boy are they heavy!
The weather looks beautiful all weekend, and the long range forecast is for good weather next week when we head to Country Thunder for another four days of rockin country music with some of the biggest names in the business.
Stay tuned!

KABOOM..........FLP,FLP,FLP,FLP,FLP.........

I guess it should have set the tone for the trip, when it rained within an hour of leaving with our spit polished Blue Bus!

We arrived at Marathon in time to retrieve our repaired shades, only to find the repair had been done incorrectly and the shades now won't expand to the edges of the windows. By this time Marathon is closed, so I repackaged them and will leave by their front door, with a note explaining the problem, when we leave in the morning.

Another bus pulls in and we soon realize it is Scott Campbell from Michigan, a Marathon Coach Clubber who we met and spent some time with on our Michigan/Canada trip. Scott was on a mission to get his father back home so he couldn't stay long, but did leave us some parts to leave along with ours.

After a quiet night we are off about 7 am and back on the road. A fuel stop in Georgia is in order as their taxes are lower and the fuel prices usually some of the cheapest. We stop at the Flying J at mm 320 north of Atlanta. The price is $4.59 and I get a .06 discount....we take on 160 gals so you do the math! Traveling north into Tennessee my low price theory is shot as I see some prices as "low" as $4.43! What next!?

We arrive at one of our favorite spots, Two Rivers Campground in Nashville around 4:30 and park for the night. I try to level up only to find the air compressor used for levelling is not working again. I have been having some issues with it and obviously haven't resolved them. Next weeks project.

We "sneak" out around 6:30 the next morning and head north. It's a sunny nice day and traffic is not to bad, even the construction zones are moving well. A rest stop north of Louisville and on the road again.

At this pace it looks like we should miss the Chicago traffic and be home around 2:30-3:00.

NOT

KABOOM............FLP,FLP,FLP,FLP,FLP,FLP,FLP....we have blown a tire. The truck that I am passing quickly realizes the situation and slows to give me plenty of room to get slowed and to the shoulder. Safely on the shoulder, I assess the situation and find the right tag axle tire completely disintegrated. The debris has ripped off a mud flap which is hanging, but otherwise no apparent damage. In that respect we are very lucky as their are vulnerable air, fuel and electrical lines that were in the debris path.

Where the hell are we anyways? After realizing we are in an area that I know Ozinga has some concrete plants, I call my old friend Randy. He asks if he can call me back, and I ask him to be quick, cause I need his help. Kinda rude! He calls back within a few minutes (Thanks Randy!) and I explain our situation. He offers to call one of his people in the area and have him call me. Shortly his guy calls and directs me to a nearby tire company. I call the tire company and drop a couple of names. They have a used tire (lucky cause it's kinda a wierd size) for a very reasonable price and can dispatch a qualified service guy immediately! (Thanks Randy!)

By now a motorcycle State trooper has arrived, along with a Hoosier Helpers service truck. I explain that I have help on the way so the cop uses the opportunity to run a little radar. Only a couple of minutes pass before he is off, siren blaring. The Hoosier Helper dude assists me in getting the mud flap off and putting it in the jeep. The Hoosier Helper guy explains that he was up the road getting fuel when his dispatch called and informed him of our situation. Seems they had seen the whole thing on camera!! The camera can be seen on the tower in the background of the picture on Pat's post. He said somebody sits and watches those cameras 24/7! Randy calls back to make sure everything is going to be OK. (Thanks Randy!)

After about an hour the tire service truck arrives and makes quick work of changing the tire. He checks the pressures in all of the other tires and we are on our way again! (Thanks Randy!)

Some slow traffic thru construction in Chicago and we are finally home.

Bentley's first Blue Bus road trip Day 2 & 3

Day 2:

We had a good day; started early and reached our favorite campground, Two Rivers Campground" in Nashville, TN, after about 11 hours on the road.

Day 3:

Ah, the last stretch of Bentley's first road trip! Seems like an easy day to anticipate, with about an 8 hour drive ahead. We got an early start, heading out of the campground at 6:30am - much to the dismay of all those not-so-happy campers around us. (Tis hard to sneak out of a place with the Series 60 Detroit Diesel 475 hp in this baby.)

First leg stretch we took at a rest stop in Kentucky, I was once again amazed at the outlandish behavior of some truck drivers. Now, mind you, I realize they don't expect to see some lady walking her golden retriever in a parking lot, but this guy pulled his semi into the rest stop at break neck speed, jumped out of the truck and stood behind his front tire to relieve himself. Guess he had to go. I pretended I didn't see him.

Back in the bus and on our way continuing north on Interstate 65 through Indiana at 72 mph. Now, don't they always say the worst happens near your home? At milemarker 254.2 about 70 miles from home, BOOM. Oh my gosh!!. I don't know what Bob thought, he probably knew what happened, but Bentley and I, on the other hand, were scared poopless (almost). We limped off the road and Bob went out to check and see that we blew a tag axle tire. Tag axle tire? (You'll have to ask Bob what that is) I thought someone hit us and took my Jeep with them.

Ok, so now what? Should we try to hobble to the next exit to get off the highway? No way Jose with the traffic speeding by us. After Bob thought awhile, he called our old pal Randy Theis who luckily hasn't retired quite yet from Ozinga Redi-Mix and he was able to get one of his guys to hook us up with a local tire repair service. Whew! Two hours later we were back on the road.

Last bit of the drive was the worst, construction traffic as usual in the Chicago area. Ah, but the rewards once we pulled onto White Oak Lane. What a beautiful site! Big trees, lots of green grass and room to roam.

May 20, Bentley's First Day in the Blue Bus

Our plans were to leave at noon today. Well, we pulled out from the house at 12:05pm heading to Pelican Lake. By the time we unhooked power and hooked up the jeep we were actually on the road by 12:45.

Bentley seems to be liking his "rock star ride". He quickly adapted to his "spot" - which is the couch....what's not to like? He was a bit nervous at first, but seemed to settle right in.

True to form, we hit quite a downpour just outside on Sarasota. Haven't seen it rain that hard since leaving Illinois last fall!! So much for the clean Blue Bus.

After about 3hours we arrived at the Marathon Coach Service Center. Bob got his parts. Actually they were repairing some shades we had for the front. Cost of parts (which are no longer made) were quite reasonable, but Bob just about choked at their labor charge. Especially since they are now too short. So, after Bob re-installed them, he had to take them down and we will leave them here with hopes for correction. Meanwhile, there is quite an inventory of used buses here. Bentley and I have taken a brief walk around and we agree nothing "trips our trigger" but Bob had yet to make the rounds. Ugh. (There is a nice burgandy bus and trailer to match, but then we'd have to change the blog name - let alone go back to work to pay for it)

Plans are to head out early in the morning. Nice to have a short day and get a few hours out of the way before tomorrow.

Time to Wake up!

Well the BLue Bus has had a long winters rest and it's almost time to awaken her for the trip home and the summer activities. She is scheduled for a wash, wax and wheel polish today under the careful hands of Mark @ CMB Wash of Naples, FL. Mark specializes in large coaches, especially those like the BLue Bus with lots of shinny stainless steel and aluminum to care for. This activity is sure to bring much needed rain here to southwest Florida!
A quick inspection yesterday revealed an exploded can of artichoke hearts in one of the cabinets....yuk. And then of course there are the usual things like checking tires and evicting the small lizards who have taken up various residences.
Hopefully we won't run across any major difficulties, as things usually seem to break when not being used. I have never understood that phenomenon! But, if we do, first stop is the Marathon Coach repair facility in San Antonio, FL to pick up some window shades that I shipped there to be repaired. They are most capable and accommodating, and generally not to busy this time of year.

Preparing for summer departure

It is time to begin the prep-work for departing the Blue Bus from it's winter home at Pelican Lake Motor Coach Resort. The bus has spent a lonesome winter there, as we haven't had occasion to use it since we arrived here in October 2007.

We plan to head to our northern summer home in Batavia, Illinois on May 20th. This will be our first trip with newly adopted Bentley (our Golden Retriever). So far plans are to get on the road and after a quick stop for parts at the Marathon Coach dealer in San Antonio, Florida, head straight to Batavia with no other side-trips.

Welcome!

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